30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Feeling Judged

I've been collecting baseball cards off and on for thirty-something years and I've been judged for doing so the majority of those years. Or at least it feels that way.

These are the $5 ones you get for buying toilet paper in bulk.

Yesterday I hit up three localTargets with a stack of gift cards I've been accumulating in hopes of finding some blaster boxes to tear into.

I ended up finding two2017 Topps Series One and one2017 Gypsy Queenblaster boxes at the final store. Obviously I was pretty excited, but there was a part of me that was nervous. I'm always running into people I know at this particular Target and the last thing I want to hear is a familiar voice from behind asking... "you still collect baseball cards?".

20 comments:

I don't hide the fact that I collect baseball cards, but if anyone were to ask I'd be proud to say I've active in a hobby I enjoy and have enjoyed both as a kid and as an adult. Sorry you didn't land a Judge.

I want to be the sure-of-himself guy that does what he wants, but I must admit I either self-checkout, or before the store had those, picked the cashier I felt would be least judgey. Among friends though, I gladly tell them about particularly cool Cardinals cards I pull, or more often, about the in-person autographs I get.

I don't hide it. Especially when I'm the type who'll cut straight to the most interesting aspect of baseball card collecting to non-collectors, how to make money doing it. As well as the second-most interesting one, getting them autographed.

No guilt feelings here. What's there to be ashamed over? If anyone questioned me in an accusatory way, I'd simply point something they "still" bought (junk food, alcohol, lottery tickets, clothes they don't need, etc.). Who buys just necessities every time they go to a store?

I never really thought much about it when it comes to buying blaster boxes, there have been a couple of times when you get that one cashier who looks at you with judging eyes but I have never felt s of conscious of it.

I'm always self-conscious when shopping for cards. I've done things like stand in the card aisle conspicuously checking my phone as if I'm shopping from someone else's list (while people around me are probably thinking "You're not fooling anyone"). The new (in my area, anyway) self-serve registers at Target are a Godsend.

I'm less awkward about it than I used to be, but I'm nowhere near confident enough to pull it off like some of the other commenters. I think for me it stems from the fact that I'd never stopped collecting while all of my friends did, and I collected all throughout college when I lived in dread that anyone would find out, so I spent many years in drug stores and convenience stores trying to look inconspicuous... and those old habits are hard to shake.

Oh, and I also patronize a comic store a mile from where I work, so I often check to see if anyone I know is around before walking into that store. :-)

I don't really talk about it, particularly at work. Funnily enough, last week I was out in Little Rock meeting with a company I do business with and the business development person I was meeting mentioned that he collected sports memorabilia. We had a nice conversation about it. First time that has ever happened.

I used to hide my hobbies, but eventually I realized that no one else really cares that much about what I do. I've got comic book art on my walls at work, and I don't think anyone's ever judged me for it. The big boss in the office even stops by from time to time and tells me that I have the best art in the building. The only time I really feel weird is if I am picking up some comic books from a bookstore, and the covers feature provocative art.

I guess that was all about comic books. When it comes to baseball cards, I don't feel any shame about buying them or admitting to collecting them. On the rare occasion that someone gives me crap about it, I tell them about selling a Charlie Sheen autograph for hundreds of dollars, or the time I got a My Little Pony card for $5 and sold it for over $200. Of course I don't collect for the money, but that's a language that most people can understand.

About Me

I've been collecting cardboard off and on since the early 80's. I'm presently collecting. But who knows what the future holds in store for me.
One thing is for certain... I'll have my blog to help relive some of my favorite hobby moments.